Monday 7 January 2013

The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations (Part Two)

A few theories as to why The African Cup Of Nations is actually held in January.


The African Cup Of Nations.  What are
the reasons why it is staged in January?
In part one of The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations I investigated the argument that ‘the African Cup of Nations can’t be staged in July because it would be too hot.’  To quickly summarise the conclusion, of the previous four African Cup Of Nations, all four of them would have experienced cooler temperatures if they had been staged in July instead of January.

So to return to my closing question from part one, why are the Confederation Of African Football (CAF) reluctant to stage the African Cup Of Nations in July when the ‘too hot’ argument clearly doesn’t hold water?

Here are a few possible theories…

1) Resistance to change.
The people who run football have repeatedly shown throughout the history of football that they like to drag their heels before changes are eventually made, even when those changes would clearly be for the benefit of football and for the benefit of all parties involved.

In my opinion this is possibly a significant reason why the African Cup Of Nations is held in January.  Historically it’s always been held in January and therefore no-one wants to be the one to make a decision to change it.  Football ruling bodies around the world have repeatedly shown a resistance to change, so maybe CAF are alike in this respect.


2) Cutting off their nose to spite their face.
I also wouldn’t rule out the possibility of there being an element of ‘it’s my ball and you’re not playing with it’ on the part of CAF.  To put it another way, maybe there’s an element of childish stubbornness in their refusal to consider moving the African Cup Of Nations to July, even when it would be better for climatic reasons (as has been the case for the last four African Cup Of Nations).

When researching the climate statistics, I came across a few comments along the lines of ‘Why should African football revolve around English and European league calendars?’  You have to remain open therefore to the possibility that CAF get a perverse sense of satisfaction from refusing to fit in with Europe, even when it would be in their own interests to do so, and thus cutting off their noses to spite their faces.


The myth behind the African Cup Of Nations.  Each of the
last four tournaments would have been cooler in July.
3) Domestic Football Calendars In Africa
The most likely reason is actually straight forward and also the reason which makes the most sense.  Many of the domestic leagues in Africa have their close season breaks during the European winter, so from this point of view it makes sense to stage the African Cup Of Nations when most domestic leagues are on a break.

However, this isn't true of all African domestic football leagues.  Of the last five nations to host the African Cup Of Nations, three of the domestic leagues have their close season break during the European summer (South Africa, Ghana and Gabon) and therefore had to put their domestic league on hold when the African Cup Of Nations was staged.


4) A combination of reasons.
As well as the African domestic football calendar reason, I suspect the resistance to change is maybe due to a combination of two or three of the above reasons.

Whatever the reason or reasons though, the statistics highlight that ‘it’s too hot in July’ is a generalisation which doesn't always apply because as illustrated in part one of The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations, the last four African Cup Of Nations would have actually experienced cooler temperatures if they had been staged in July rather than January.

Finally, as well as the climatic benefits to staging the last four tournaments in July, I personally think that there are also other additional benefits and arguments for staging The African Cup Of Nations in July.

I’ll summarise these arguments tomorrow in the final part of this post on The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations.

You can find part one of The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations at the following link:
The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations (Part One)

Update: Part three of The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations can be found at the following link:
The Myth Behind The African Cup Of Nations (Part Three)


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